LMCs voted unanimously at their meeting in Clydebank last week that the profession was ‘extremely concerned about the future viability of general practice in light of collapsing pay levels'.

They also said the uncertainty of future remuneration would have a deleterious effect on recruitment and retention in general practice.

An email from accountants the Tenon Group was sent to GPs saying that the Doctors' and Dentists' Review Body (DDRB) had taken a ‘very hard line interpretation' of paragraph 1.6 in its report.

The paragraph said: ‘It was agreed that future uplifts to the global sum should seek to reduce the reliance upon correction factor payments and, therefore, release an element of the correction factor envelope'.

Tenon's email added that it was ‘a shame' that GPC negotiators did not publicise this more widely.

But GPC Scotland chairman Dr Dean Marshall said the issue was more complicated than the wording in a single paragraph.

He said that paragraph 1.6 had to be seen in context with other legislation.